Newcastle United

Newcastle United: Keith Downie now shares European warning on Tyneside

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Newcastle United have made a stunning start to the 2022/23 Premier League campaign, with their eyes firmly set on placing in the European spots.

And as a result of their promising start, Sky Sports’ Keith Downie now feels that missing out on European football come the end of the season would be a disaster for the Toon.

It has certainly been an impressive start to the campaign for Eddie Howe’s side, who go into Christmas sitting just seven points behind the league leaders.

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The Magpies currently have a four-point cushion on fifth-placed Manchester United and a nine-point gap to eighth-placed Chelsea, who sit just outside the Europa Conference League slot.

But it is now apparent expectations have grown among those on Tyneside, with Downie telling Newcastle Fans TV that anything less than European football would be a let-down:

He said: “They’ve obviously given themselves a bit of a problem because they’ve set the bar high now, and Howe will want that to remain for the remainder of the campaign. I still think top four will be really difficult, but I think it would be a real disaster now if Newcastle were not to qualify for Europe.”

TIF Thoughts on Downie’s comments…

We have to agree with Downie, as the start to the season has been nothing short of remarkable and it would certainly take a huge downturn in form for Newcastle not to secure any form of European football.

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That said, the World Cup group stages are now over, so teams around them like Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United will not have significantly more games to play after the World Cup break.

And having said that, Newcastle are probably one of the sides who would not have wanted their league campaign to come to a halt given such a dominant start.

However, the January transfer window is on the horizon, and if they are to strengthen their side even further, we do not see why Newcastle could not clinch a spot in the top four, never mind anything less.

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